Assessment of the accuracy of significant wave heights derived from satellite altimetry data in the East Sea

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to assess the accuracy of significant wave heights derived from satellite altimetry data in the East Sea. The accuracy assessment method is developed by applying error theory, based on the deviations in significant wave height derived from two different types of satellite altimetry at the same location and time. The spatial and temporal thresholds for considering a pair of points as coincident are 5 kilometers and 60 minutes, respectively. The experiment was conducted in the East Sea using significant wave heights derived from Sentinel-3A satellite altimetry data, collected from March 2, 2016 to August 22, 2024, and Sentinel-3B satellite altimetry data, collected from June 6, 2018 to August 24, 2024. The experimental results showthat the accuracy of significant wave height derived from Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B satellite altimetry reaches ±0.118 meters. The wave height deviations follow a random distribution. The correlation between significant wave heights obtained from the two satellites is very high (R = 0.97254). In coastal areas and near islands, the deviations tend to be larger. The spatial and temporal thresholds for considering point pairs as coincident were also examined at values of 1, 5, 10 km and 30, 60 minutes, respectively. The results indicate that key evaluation metrics show negligible variation. This study introduces a supplementary approach for evaluating the accuracy of satellite-derived significant wave heights in conditions with limited buoy measurements